This Is What Antarctica Looks like Underneath the Ice

Scientists now have the most accurate topographical model of the frozen continent

Antarctica without the ice

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We tend to think of Antarctica as giant expanse of ice, a completely white continent. And that's true, it is covered in ice from one corner to the other, but it wasn't always this way. During the age of the dinosaurs Antarctica was much higher up.

But as it drifted towards the South Pole, layers upon layers of snow started piling up, leading to the shape we know today.

But all that land is still there, underneath, albeit deformed and bent under the weight of the ice.

The British Antarctic Survey, using data from NASA's ICESat and the airborne Operation IceBridge, put together Bedmap2, the most accurate and detailed topographical survey of the Antarctic continent.

It's now possible for scientists and nonscientists alike to get a view of the weird landmass underneath. You wouldn't know it from the surface, but Antarctica is rather jaggedy with mountain ranges scattered all over the place.